Bank of Russia says Russians trade $ 5 billion in crypto every year

The Russian people are among the most active participants in the world’s cryptocurrency market, according to the country’s central bank.

Russia’s central bank released a new financial stability assessment on November 25, highlighting the country’s growing role in the $ 2.8 trillion market.

Citing estimates from large local banks in July 2021, the Bank of Russia estimates the total annual volume of Russian crypto transactions at 350 billion rubles, or $ 5 billion.

It still seems unclear whether the Central Bank of Russia will convert these estimates, as the price of Bitcoin (BTC) has almost doubled since July and rose from around $ 30,000 to over $ 60,000 in November.

In the report, the Central Bank of Russia also noted that the Russian Federation is among the world’s leading countries in visits to the Binance cryptocurrency exchange. According to data from digital intelligence provider SimilarWeb, Russia is the second largest country after Turkey in terms of total traffic on Binance.

The Central Bank of Russia also noted that Russia is one of the largest Bitcoin mining countries in the world and is the third largest country in terms of hash rate according to the Cambridge Bitcoin Electricity Consumption Index (as of August 2021).

The Central Bank of Russia recognized Russia’s leading position in the global cryptocurrency market and outlined the main risks associated with the industry, including those related to financial stability, investor protection, money laundering, criminal finance and ESG risks.

The central bank did not propose any immediate action to deal with these risks, but said it would monitor the market closely to identify potential threats:

“The relationship between digital currencies and the financial sector is currently limited. However, the rapid growth and widespread adoption of digital currencies will pose a higher risk to both global and Russian financial markets. “

Related: CEO says Russia’s crypto market is worth $ 500 billion despite poor regulation

The Russian central bank has taken a tough stance on cryptocurrencies, with Governor Elvira Nabiullina arguing that responsible governments shouldn’t push for crypto adoption. The central bank is known for not allowing local banks to handle cryptocurrencies and instead encourages the use of their own digital currency. As a result, no Russian cryptocurrency exchange is legally offering its services today.

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